Chapter 3 Summary

Gurov returns to Moscow and again embraces his elite Moscow existence. He reads the right newspapers, entertains the right people and goes to the right places and parties. He is certain that the image of Anna Sergeyevna will be gone within a month, relegated to a little-used part of his memory with his other lady friends. Surprisingly, Anna's touching smile has only grown more vivid in his mind's eye after a month. She is with him everywhere, and her image becomes clearer and more lovely than it had been the day after they had separated.

Gurov is tormented with the need to confide these new feelings in someone. One evening, after supper at the doctors' club with a friend, he remarks suddenly, "If only you knew what a fascinating woman I made the acquaintance of in Yalta!" The friend says nothing. He gets...